One After Another
by Revolutionary Venom
Summary: "...Rox, I...I'm scared..." Sequel to 'Welcome to Existence'. AU, Mpreg
1. Resting Up

HALLO THAR

When I first typed up 'Welcome to Existence', I wasn't expecting a sequel to pop into my head. But it did! So here ya go

Disclaimer: I don't own KH, only Kari and Kala

* * *

"Kari! Kala! It's almost time for dinner!"

The twins stopped in their tracks of the game 'chase me, find me' to see their father at the threshold of the door that led to the backyard, smiling. "C'mon up, you two have been out there all afternoon!"

Kala smiled, her hazel eyes brightening up. "Coming!" she yelled back. She smiled to her slightly younger twin and took her hand. "C'mon, let's go!" Kari grinned, letting her sister run back to the house, her own hand in hers.

Roxas watched as the twins came rushing up to the door and inside, the smile on his face never leaving.

It had been eight years since Axel had had the twins, thanks to being a test subject for the magic company at the time known as Unversed. Since then, Roxas' old company of Verseless Industries and the Unversed Company had merged and gone global. Thanks to this merger, the potion that Axel had taken that made it possible for males to give life had been made common-place, as well as giving Roxas a much better job in a different department that paid a much higher salary.

And because of the success of the potion from years ago, Axel and Roxas had decided to have more children.

"Where's Mommy?" Kari asked when she came in, Roxas shutting the door behind her. The blonde male's smile fell a little. "Mom's still napping," he answered. "Why don't you two go wash up and I'll go wake him up?"

The twins complied and headed off toward the bathroom, Roxas heading in the direction of his and Axel's bedroom, feeling a little worried as he went.

When the red head was pregnant with the twins, it was one thing that he had felt tired a lot or something to that extent. But he hadn't had any health issues because of or despite the fact that the pregnancy was more or less a test to see if the potion at the time even worked.

But now…

Roxas quietly opened the door to their bedroom, smiling a little when he saw his husband asleep. He went over to the bed and sat next to Axel as carefully as possible, wondering what he was dreaming about as Roxas began to stroke his hair. He almost didn't want to wake Axel, but knew that the red head had to eat.

This time around, Roxas and Axel were having a boy; they had decided to find out this time so they could see if they could just pull out the twins old clothes or if they would need blue this time. As excited as the two were when they found out about having a boy, they got an equal amount of disappointment as well when the doctor kept talking.

It seemed that this was considered as Axel's 'first-true' pregnancy, and because of that factor that he had developed preeclampsia, a condition that sometimes developed for those who had first time pregnancies. It was taking a lot out of the red head, in shorter words. So the doctor had said that Axel was to be on plenty of bed rest, which didn't really leave Axel much to do, but if it kept both Axel and the baby healthy, then Roxas was all for it.

"Hey Ax, it's time to wake up," Roxas finally said, brushing some of the red head's hair away from his shoulders. His husband shifted a little, emitting a soft, sleepy moan. "C'mon Axel, it's just about time for dinner and the twins are waiting."

A pair of emerald eyes opened and looked at Roxas. "Hey," he greeted, smiling a little. Stretching a little, Axel sat up and carefully propped himself against the headboard of their bed, resting a hand on his eight-month pregnant belly. "How long have I been asleep?"

"It's about 6:30 now, and you conked out at close to 2:00 this afternoon," Roxas answered. He kissed the red head on the cheek. "It's dinnertime. Are you hungry? Demyx is gonna be here with food."

Axel smiled. "That's right, he promised to stop by tonight, didn't he? I hope he brings lots of curry-"

"Mommy!"

Roxas and Axel looked at the bedroom door to see the twins standing there, smiles adorning their faces. "Hey you two," their 'mother' greeted. He patted the empty space on his other side. "Why don't you two come over here?"

The twins giggled and made their way over, Kala taking the empty space next to Axel while Kari sat next to Roxas. Axel hugged them both, kissing the twins on the top of their heads. "Have you two been good while I've been sleeping?" he asked.

Kari giggled, her aquamarine eyes shining brightly as Kala answered. "We were playin' 'chase me, find me' in the back yard. Daddy played with us for awhile, but left us alone 'cuz he said he had some stuff to do."

Axel looked at Roxas, one eyebrow raised, showing the confused look on his face. Despite the fact that the backyard was fenced in, was not all that big, and the town they lived in was one where children could play outside after dark without fear, Axel still worried about the girls, sometimes at a much higher level than Roxas thought he should.

Then again, being as the red head _had_ been the one who carried the twins for nine months, Roxas could see why he would worry.

"I came in because I was either checking on you, calling Demyx, picking up a bit around here, or cleaning the kitchen," the blonde told his husband. "And I only left them outside by themselves for about an hour."

Axel seemed to relax at that statement and smiled. Suddenly, he felt a sharp kick to his stomach, alerting him of another presence. "I think your brother wants some attention," the red head said to the twins, laughing a little.

Kari looked at her mother's swollen abdomen, looking like she was pondering something while Kala put her hand on top of Axel's stomach, smiling. "Hi little brother," she said, Axel petting his daughter's dark orange-red hair. "Are you gonna come see us soon? Kari and me are waiting..." As the girl continued to chatter at the red head's stomach, Roxas looked down at Kari, the little blonde girl looking a little scared. "What's the matter sweetheart?" he asked quietly.

"...he's not hurting Mommy, is he?" Kari asked, looking up at Roxas. The blonde male stared at her, confused why she'd ask something like that. "Of course not," Roxas told her, trying to keep the conversation quiet so as not to distract Kala from her 'chat'. "Why would you ask that?"

" 'cuz Mommy's in bed a lot," she said. "And don't sick or hurt people spend a lot of time in bed?"

Roxas was about to answer when Axel cut him off. "Just because I've been spending a lot of time in bed doesn't mean anything. Your brother isn't hurting me and I'm not sick. The doctors just thought that bed rest would be good for me." When he noticed that the slightly wary look on his younger daughter's face wasn't leaving, he held his free arm open for a hug. "C'mere Bright-Eyes."

Smiling a little, Kari crawled over to her mother, Axel hugging her. "Don't be scared," he told her, kissing her on top of her head. "There's nothing wrong. The doctors thought this would be good and we follow what doctors say, right?" Kari nodded, looking up at the red head. Axel smiled. "That's my girl. Now, do you wanna say hello to your brother? I think he wants to hear you too."

Kari slowly put a hand next to her sister's on Axel's belly. She smiled when she felt a kick. "He kicked me!" she said excitedly.

Roxas couldn't help but smile at the little girl, who was now conversing with her mother, sister, and soon-to-be brother.

* * *

Axel woke up later that night feeling...strange. An odd pain was lacing itself through his back, it felt really weird...and it hurt. _A lot_.

Turning over to face his sleeping husband, the red head took a hold of Roxas' shoulder and started to shake him awake. "Rox, wake up," he said urgently. The blonde next to him groaned sleepily. "Whuzzit?" he asked, opening his eyes a little, looking into Axel's own deep green ones.

The red head was about to answer when he felt something 'pop' and a nasty, warm wet feeling begin to pool between his legs. _Why, of all places, did that have to happen **in our bed**?_ Axel thought. "...water just broke...and my back hurts a lot..."

It took a moment for this to apparently register in Roxas' head because one minute he was laying there with a sleepy, dumbfounded look on his face, and the next he had shot up, fully awake. "Do you think you can get up and make it to the car, or should I call an ambulance?"

"Th-think I can make it out-" Axel started, but stopped when a wave of pain hit. "Scratch that...call an ambulance...and probably Demyx so he can stay with the twins..." Roxas helped the red head sit up, propping him up against the headboard while placing a few pillows behind him. Somewhere in this process, the blankets had gotten shoved off Axel and Roxas saw what his husband was talking about.

_And here I thought the doc was kidding when he said that Ax had grown a 'birth canal'_, Roxas thought, taking a quick look at the wet spot on the bed before going to grab the phone to make a few phone calls. _First, the ambulance._

Axel just kept staring downwards, one hand on his stomach, the other clenching into a fist every so often.

The first time he had done this with the twins, there had only been one way to get them out (due to the limitations of the potion at the time) and that one way was through a c-section. He had thought about doing the procedure again with the new arrival, but after hearing Roxas talk about how much he had been worried because Axel had lost a lot of blood, he decided against it and opted for a natural birth this time since the potion now let men grow a 'birth canal'.

The red head let out a breath when he saw something he shouldn't have.

**...**

Roxas had gotten off the phone with 911 and was just about to call Demyx when he heard, "R-Rox...s-s-something's wrong..."

Noticing the distress and fear in Axel's voice, he came back to the bed. "What is-" His eyes widened, question dying in his throat. Blood was beginning to stain the red head's gray pajama bottoms. Not much, but enough that it scared Roxas.

"Roxas...what's happening?"

* * *

The blonde paced in the waiting room of the Maternity Ward, worried sick about Axel.

Upon arrival to the hospital, Roxas had been seperated from the red head and hadn't been allowed to see him until this check up or whatever was over with. Only problem with that was that had been over two hours ago and the blonde was getting impatient. He _knew_ Axel was scared and Roxas was sure that the doctors knew that too.

So why were they keeping the blonde from comforting his husband?

"Roxas? Why are you out here?"

Said male quickly turned around when he heard that voice. "Demyx? What are you doing here? Why aren't you with the twins?"

The musician shrugged. "After you told me what happened, I got worried, so I called Sora and Riku. They're with the twins right now."

Roxas relaxed a little. His cousin Sora and Riku could take care of the twins well enough, considering that they were expecting one of their own. If Demyx had said that he had taken his roommate Zexion to watch the kids, Roxas would've been mad. While he didn't hate Zexion, the two of them had just never been on good terms with one another.

"Anyway, you didn't answer my question," Demyx said. "Why are you out here instead of in there with Axel?"

The slightly younger blonde sighed. "It wasn't my decision if that's what you're wondering," he said, taking a seat in a nearby chair. "I tried to follow him in, but the doctors and nurses won't let me until they're done finding out what's wrong."

Demyx took a seat next to his friend. "But he _is _in labor, right?"

"...yeah..."

The two sat in silence for a long time, wondering what could possibly be happening in the depths of the ward they were in.

**...**

"Roxas Raiff?"

The blonde stopped his pacing, looking up to see a female doctor. "Yes?" he asked, wondering if she could tell him what was going on or if she'd let him see Axel. Roxas walked over to the doctor, Demyx waking up from the nap he had been taking to see the scene before him. "Is my husband alright?" Roxas asked. "He was bleeding when we got here-"

The doctor held up a hand for silence. "He's doing better," she said, lowering her hand. "Are you familiar with a condition called 'placenta previa'?" Roxas shook his head. "It's a condition that has several interesting factors tied to it. According to your husband's medical records, he was a test subject for the current male pregnancy potion from the former Unversed Company and gave birth to twins via cesarian section."

"I already knew that, I was there," Roxas said, a short-tempered edge to his voice. "What does a c-section or our twins have to do with what's going on now?"

"They're the two factors I was talking about," she answered. "Placenta previa can occur when there were multiple children in a single birth or when a cesarian is performed, among other factors. Your husband had both, at the same time, which makes him more of a candidate for this complication, even if the procedure and your children were born almost ten years ago."

Roxas looked down in disbelief. "So what happens now?" he asked, Demyx standing from his seat and coming up to the blonde's side, placing a hand on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him. "Are Axel and our son ok?"

"Yes," she answered. Roxas looked back up at her, his eyes brightening a little. "We've had to give him a transfusion due to the bleeding, but he's doing better now. And all testing shows that your son is well."

"...can I see him?" Roxas asked timidly. When she nodded, the blonde looked to Demyx. "Call Sora and Riku, tell them what's going on and make sure that the twins are still asleep," he instructed. Then Roxas turned back to the physician. "Can Demyx come back too when he's done?"

Once again, she nodded. "He can just come to the desk and ask where the room is." With that, the female doctor led Roxas back towards where Axel was.

**...**

Axel looked toward the door of the room he had been placed in to see Roxas standing there, looking worried. "Rox, what's wrong?" the red head asked, though he had a pretty good idea as to what the blonde was going to say.

His husband just stood in the doorway for a moment before coming over to the bed and hugging him, being careful of the equipment that was monitoring both Axel and their unborn son. "I'm gonna guess you've been just as worried as me?" Axel asked. Roxas sighed, kissing the red head on the cheek. "You have no idea," he finally answered. "The good news is that our son is ok and you're ok too."

"...but?"

"But nothing," Roxas said, as he sat in a chair next to the bed. "She didn't mention doing a c-section, and if there's a choice, I'd rather you just stick with what you've been wanting to do for the last few months. She didn't mention much else, just told me why this happened and what they did to help."

The blonde took Axel's hand in one of his own, being careful of the IV's that were hooked up, the two sitting in silence for a while. Finally, the red head broke the all-too quiet in the room.

"...Rox, I...I'm scared..."

Roxas just squeezed Axel's hand a little, trying to reassure him as he tried to keep tears from coming to his eyes. "Me too."


	2. Man of the World

Second part!

And because I got a few complaints about my last Mpreg story ('Welcome to Existence'), I included a scene that I wasn't originally thinking about, but it doesn't sound too bad for how it was written...at least, that's what I got

Disclaimer: Still don't own squat. Only Kari, Kala, and the newest addition

* * *

"_Ax…I know you can do this," Roxas said, squeezing his husband's hand a little. "Just a couple of more and we'll get to see our son."_

_Axel shook his head, clearly looking scared and tired. "Can't," he said softly. "Hurts too much…" If he had only known what a natural birth could feel like before he was actually giving life, he would've stuck with the c-section. A few tears of pain escaped from his eyes before he could stop them._

"_C'mon Axel, you can do it," Demyx encouraged him, bringing a damp cloth to the red head's brow. "Just think, Kari and Kala are gonna be so excited when they see their little brother! So are Sora and Riku! And I wanna meet my godson."_

_This brought a small smile to Axel's face before he roared in pain, the life being squeezed out of Roxas' hand while Demyx brushed back his friend's hair from his face. When his screaming came to an end, the doctor told him to rest for a moment, then try again._

_The red head tried to regulate his breathing, Roxas kissing his forehead. "I'm so proud of you," the blonde said quietly. "You've come so far. Only a little more and you'll get to hold him." He smiled down at his husband. Axel smiled back, resting his head against the pillow. He felt horrible, but he couldn't help but return Roxas' smile; his legs were shaking from trying to keep his legs apart, his lower half was in a lot of pain since the doctors didn't want to risk giving drugs to Axel after he was said to have the bleeding issue, and he was severely wishing that their son wasn't coming the way he had decided to…_

_But with Roxas and Demyx there to help him, maybe he could get through this._

_

* * *

_

Roxas sat in a chair next to Axel's bed, holding their new son as Axel slept.

Almost immediately after the red head had given birth, he passed out from exhaustion. At first, Roxas thought something was wrong with Axel, since he wasn't waking up, but the doctors said that he was fine; just everything from the last fifteen hours or so had caught up with him and he needed rest. After hearing that, Demyx left, saying he was going to go call Riku and Sora to tell them the good news so they could pass it onto the twins.

The red head hadn't woken up once since then, clearly in need of sleep. Roxas smiled a little._ It's just like when Kari and Kala were born. He passed out during the procedure and didn't get to meet them first hand. I was kinda hoping that he'd get to hold our son first this time-_

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a sleepy moan. Looking from his newborn son to the bed, Roxas saw that Axel was waking up.

Those lovely green emeralds emerged from underneath a sleepy veil. The red head looked around a moment before his eyes descended upon the blonde. "Rox?" he asked tiredly.

The blonde smiled. "Hey," he greeted. "I was wondering when you'd wake up…and I think so has our son."

He could see Axel's eyes brighten as he stood from his seat and came to his husband's bedside. "He's ok then?" Axel asked, voice sounding like it was about to break. Roxas smiled. "Yeah, he's just fine. A little earlier than scheduled, but just fine."

The red head held his arms out. "…can I hold him?"

Roxas laughed softly. "Why would I deny you that right?" he asked, carefully transferring their sleeping son into Axel's waiting arms. "You carried him for almost nine months. You're his 'mother'. There's no way I'd deny you of your right to hold him."

Axel just smiled, looking down at their son. Moving a piece of blanket away, he noticed the baby had a small tuft of red hair that was the same shade as his own. Axel nearly laughed at that; in all honesty, he had never expected any of his kids to have red hair. Kala had come close, what with hers being a dark red-orange, but not quite close enough.

"Has he woken up yet?" Axel asked, taking one of the boy's tiny hands with his index finger. Roxas shook his head. "Even the doctors who were giving him his check up said that the most he did was whimper or whine every once in awhile," he said. "Guess he'll be a heavy sleeper." They both smiled at that thought.

Axel felt the tiny baby in his arms wiggle a little. "Rox, I think he's waking up," Axel said, watching their son intently. Roxas' attention focused on the little boy as his eyes opened to reveal sapphire colored eyes, the same color that Roxas had.

The blonde couldn't help but smile at that little face that was trying to focus on his parents. "He looks a little like Reno, what with those eyes," Roxas commented. Axel shook his head. "No…he has your eyes. They're too dark to make him look like my brother." He kissed his son's forehead, earning a small, happy sound from the newborn. "Kari and Kala are gonna have a ball when they see him."

Roxas looked at him, confused. "Why's that?

Axel chuckled, their son continuing to stare up at his 'mother'. "Because they've been wondering who he'd look more like when he was born," he answered. "They've even been trying to name him, though in all honesty, none of the names the two came up with sounded that great."

Roxas smiled. "What do you think his name should be?"

"…Desmond," Axel answered. "In Celtic, it means 'man of the world'."

The blonde thought for a moment, then grinned. "I think I like that name," he said. "We can call him 'Des' for short."

Axel smiled down at their new son. "Welcome to the world Desmond." The baby smiled a little upon hearing this name, which in turn caused both parents to just grin at this precious little face.

Suddenly, a knock on the door was heard. Roxas went over to open it, revealing Demyx, Sora, Riku, and the twins. "Hey guys, c'mon in," the blonde said, moving away to let everyone in. The girls immediately ran in and over to Axel's bedside. "Mommy!" they both exclaimed.

"Hey you two," Axel greeted, looking down at his girls. "Do you wanna meet your new brother?" The twins giggled, nodding. Riku and Demyx came over, picking the girls up and placing them on the bed next to Axel. As the girls fawned over their new baby brother, Riku smiled. "Feeling okay after last night?"

Axel looked up at his silver-haired best friend. "Yeah. Last night was a lot of work, but I got through it, as you can see." Then he had a thought. "Anyone called Reno?"

"Tried to this morning," Sora replied, coming to Riku's side, a hand resting on his six month belly. "But he got sent away about two days ago for work, so we couldn't reach him…sorry Ax."

The older red head sighed. "It's ok," he said, looking back down at his children. "Reno just wanted to be here when this little one came, but can't help it if Rufus sends him somewhere, right? Besides, Desmond was a little earlier than we thought."

"Desmond?" Demyx asked, walking around the bed to where Roxas now was. "How'd you come up with that name?"

"It was my dad's name," Axel replied, Roxas smiling. "It means 'man of the world', which my old man was since he used to travel everywhere before I was born. He used to tell me stories all the time when I was a kid about the different places he'd seen."

"Grandpa went everywhere?" Kari asked. The twins had not had the chance to really interact with their grandfather, or at least didn't remember him since they had been only one or two when the man died.

"Yeah, your grandpa used to travel a lot," Roxas said. "I'm sure if he were still here, you'd get to hear the stories too."

The rest of the afternoon was spent with friends and family, taking turns holding the newborn and chatting about how they were going to raise this newest addition; Demyx claimed the cooking slot for when Desmond was old enough (he wanted to teach his godson how to make Indian food), Kari and Kala promised to be the best big sisters they could, leaving Sora and Riku with promises of play dates/a playmate once their own kid was born.


End file.
